He had no idea that he was about to leave the supermarket in such turmoil since it had seemed like a usual shopping trip. He wasn't upset by the long lines at the checkout counter, though, or the crowd of people in the produce aisle.
Neither was it the screaming children or the mindless mothers pushing their carts in front of him in a haze. When he glanced into another family's shopping cart, he felt a storm start to brew inside of him.
Patrick Gibson was hard-working and did his best to support his small family. He thought his life might get easier when he enrolled in the U.S. Army.
It was undoubtedly difficult for him to leave his family for months to serve his country. However, if there was one lesson his parents taught him, it was that nothing was ever given for free.
When Patrick met Whitney, the love of his life, he considered himself blessed and the happy couple got married soon after. He was a father of a boy and a girl before he even knew it.
Nonetheless, the couple fell on tough times, and with only one person bringing in the bacon, they had to make do with what they could afford.
Patrick often missed breakfast so his family could eat, and his $70 could stretch as far as possible. When you have four people to provide for, $70 doesn't get you very far, and after household costs like diapers, gas, car payments, and toiletries, the Gibsons hardly scraped by.
Patrick, however, thought to himself that it was alright and that he was satisfied with what he had.
Of course, then again, there were people who were even less supportive of what Patrick had to say. One woman decided to get personal and got a bit feisty with her comments, saying that Patrick had been "creepy" for taking pictures of someone else's grocery cart.
She also said that, for all he knows, that car doesn't belong to the shopper, and maybe they have nine kids. Alas, we have no way of really knowing what the situation really is. But Patrick had another comeback.
"Well, the odds of that being the case in this situation, much like many other situations with food stamps, are almost as likely as me being approved for some government assistance because we are struggling…" Patrick replied.
"…oh, wait, I forgot. We already got denied, so I'm pretty sure the chick isn't dying, and no one gave her a free car. I am sure that hard-working people such as myself are giving her a free life, though." So, what is the real reason for Patrick's outrage?
His rage stems from the fact that he and his family were denied assistance by the state when they needed it most. Patrick protects and serves all Americans, and yet he does not qualify to go on food stamps. It boggles the mind.
And now, he was famous for speaking out. But how did he feel about the sudden notoriety on Facebook?
If there's something that we can identify with in Patrick's story, it's the fact that sometimes things are just unfair in this world. And quite often, there's not much we can do about it — it's just out of our control.
It's not easy to run a government, but that doesn't mean people are supposed just to sit idly by while they feel that they've been treated unfairly. It's always important to stand up for your rights. But the thing is, the couple couldn't defend or explain themselves until now.
Because Patrick's story went so wildly viral, the couple who had offended him saw it online and took to Reddit – a completely anonymous social media platform – to defend themselves.
Now, we finally get to hear their side of the story.
The 2020 Reddit post is titled "S***w You, Patrick Gibson," and begins like this: "So, Patrick Gibson, this one's for you…"
"Let me start by saying that my use of the EBT program for 11 months is not a hand-out. This is a social service that I paid into and do not feel guilty about using for a short period when there was no other way."
The lengthy, retaliatory post on Reddit continues, and it explains exactly why Patrick had no right to level judgment just because he saw a man and his wife using an electronic benefits card to buy groceries.
"For more than 30 years, I worked, paid taxes, struggled financially, and did without often," the anonymous woman continued.
"I paid my taxes so that you could attend public schools, drive on public streets, play at public parks, and be protected by police, firefighters, and our military. For years YOU benefitted from all of MY hard work and taxes.
The post continues: "You don't approve of my purchase because you think people who struggle don't deserve what you consider a luxury?"
When you consider the actual story about the couple's purchases, it becomes clear that Patrick may have been out of line.
"Not that I owe you an explanation," the angry woman's post continued, "but the 2 carts of groceries you disapprove of are for 4 people for 2 months. And that steak I "scammed" the system out of?"
The post proceeds to give some more background about the steak that had angered Patrick so much because it was a "luxury."
"Well, we have been out of work for many months… all of our reserves were spent… we've cut every expense possible… but our son's birthday was in a couple of days, and we didn't have a spare dollar to buy him even the cheapest gift."
It turns out that that steak is their son's favorite meal, and it had been a special treat for his birthday: "So, yes, I bought a small steak," the woman explains. "It was his entire birthday, so go ahead and shoot me."
If Patrick was reading this post, he probably would have felt some shame right about now. But what about the wad of cash Patrick had seen? Did she have an explanation?
